It seems almost self-evident that Muslims face an especially heavy burden of prejudice in European societies.
Recall Koopmans and Veit’s results from last week:
Free write, then pair-share:
According to Helbling and Traunmüller, modern societies hold values that emphasize individual freedom, gender equality and political secularism.
We have seen that conservatives dislike (religious) Muslims because they are Muslims. However, liberals do not dislike Muslims per se. Rather they dislike the radical elements of (Muslim) religious practice.
Open Question: Any ideas about how we can use this insight to reduce Islamaphobia?
H+T’s insight has political implications.
In particular, to gain electoral support for religious accommodation, liberals must balance (1) their commitment to values of gender equality, free speech, etc. against (2) respect for minority rights.
Prompt: Should Muslims be allowed to hold a public event to ______
Why this is important (I+S pp.10-11):
Against a background of the far right gaining electoral ground and amassing political influence by targeting Islam and Muslim minorities as an existential threat, there is a natural concern that efforts to promote inclusion may fan the fires already burning. Hence the importance of identifying which political options are most likely to win broad support for inclusion, and which are most likely to set back inclusion.
A polarization trap…[exists] when majorities in favor of inclusion exist, but they are misunderstood as majorities in favor of exclusion because political actors have not recognized that support for inclusion is conditional on the particular terms on which it is proposed.
Split into groups:
Imagine that your local newspaper has just published an editorial that makes some very negative statements about Muslim immigrants.
This editorial has caused a huge controversy within the local Muslim community, and community leaders have demanded that the editorial be retracted, and that the newspaper issue a public apology.
Questions:
Now imagine yourself in the shoes of a left-wing politician.
Your political advisor tells you about a new survey which asked respondents their opinions about press freedom and editorial discretion.
In particular, the survey asked
v1: Should newspaper editors publish an letter that _____
v2: Should newspaper editors be allowed to publish an letter that _____
Here are the results:
How do you feel about I+S approach, which is to focus on the “tolerant”, while basically writing off the “intolerant”?